I am all for getting some of the idiots out of there. I am not a fan of term limits though. I am passionate about my country and want what is best for it. I push people to get involved and to get educated and <u>then</u> to vote. An uneducated vote is a vote for more ignorance. I do not want them to vote in a way I don't like but if they are educated and vote then I am happy. At least that way the people with the good ideas will win rather that the people with the good marketing teams and mudslingers.

Imagine a Congress with people serving their constituents for the better of the nation then go out get educated and get them elected.

Basehor is "a little country near Kansas City". (Town motto)
We are located in southern Leavenworth county not far from Kansas City Kansas

"What are you basing it on? Example: the housing market is good to "hot" in virtually every market throughout the U.S. Why? Because of demand. Demand is not drying up. Ability to qualify for financing based on overheated prices, maybe, but "demand" is ever-increasing. Why?"

When the mortgage industry is pushing 40 year, interest only loans with a 3-2-1 buydown ARM just to get people qualified - there is a potential bursting of the bubble.

In some markets, nearly half of the real estate contracts written for new constructuion are purely speculative with the buyers having no intention of moving in but rather they are planning to churn the paper.

In any given market, look at the ratio of median home prices to median household income. Anything above 3 or 4 to 1 "could' be indicative of a bubble market. South Florida for example, is exceeding 10 to 1.

If and when the prime climbs to the 10+ range, as has happened previously, the housing and auto markets will come to a screeching halt, combine this with the skyrocketing energy costs and we could easily see unemployement at record highs. Can you say "soup lines?" If your a real doom and gloomer, add a dust bowl era drought to the equation and... a population of over 300 million with one in three households owning a gun.. well I'd rather go engrave a few plaques than think about that one...

One of the key indicators of future potential problems is the credit card industry's push to recoup capital by raising the monthly minimum payments. Since most of these loans are tied to prime, there is no return-on-investment reason for this. It can only be explained as an attempt to cover what they see as potential future losses due to defaults.

In any downturn there are survivors. Planning ahead is not doom and gloom but as much a part of good business management as turning the lights off when you leave a room.

Back to work...

Gosh, I thought I was on one of the doomer boards for a moment :-) 

Like most I have felt that "something" is going to give, but what "it" will be or when is something else. I just live a prepared life and try to be optimistic.

Ed,
Thank you for saving my day. I have not logged onto the forum in quite some time, and I was about to jump out the basement window.

All,

After reading through this long post, I have come to only one conclusion,
I am going to go the beach, and then kill myself.

One last thought,

When I woke up this morning, I counted my fingers 10! My arms 2! My legs 2! Toes 10! I could see, I could breathe, my wife and my friends are here.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Chuck,

You are absolutely correct. The start of the end was when they stopped teaching civics in school. Kids (and a lot of adults )today have such a misunderstanding of how government is supposed to work that it is unbelievable. A couple of years ago my oldest son who was 11 at the time was given a pop quiz with a list of names. The object was to see how many of the students could correctly identify the pres. vice pres. our senators and local rep. and the supreme court justices. My son got 100% and was the only one who got over 50%. His teacher was amazed. I guess he has been listening to my conversations with wifey and in-laws. I was (almost as) equally amazed at how few kids in the class even knew the presidents name. When I was in 5th grade we learned about all our civil servants and wrote letters to them. By high school however (late seventies) I was told I did not have to take History because we were all going to be blown up in a nuclear war so live for today. A lot of the teachers of today are my age so I guess my school was not the only one teaching that nonsense.

I am teaching my kids that they must not surrender the WE THE PEOPLE part of our government. Funny thing is that I am considered a radical by most of my relatives and in-laws. How far we have slipped as a nation. There is such a disconnect from our government that I really think that if you were to go out onto the street and asked people if we are in charge of the government or if the government is in charge of us most people would respond with the later. Never mind that not only are we in charge of the government we ARE the government.

The time is ripe for a third political party. For it to be successful though it will have to stand for individual resposibilty, social justice, a ranking of rights of individual, community, state and then federal (you know how it used to be.) and personal responsibility to do what is right for the people of the country and then the world. Problem with that is there are precious people who could pull that all together and get people to follow them.

Didn't know you had basements out there on the islands. Better not jump out of one though you might get in trouble for traumetizing an earthworm.

The last house I owned, I installed solar hot water. Might do it again if I can scrounge up the money.

Solar generated electricity, only if I use it all. Selling it back to the power company is a farce. Last time I checked all you got was the fuel surcharge back. As the rates are readjusted, that drops back to 0 every now and then. (I wonder how that law came to be.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.